I am the drinker in the family. I am a dedicated, loyal, committed and consistent drinker. I drink 2-3 glasses of Chardonnay Every Single Night. Only Chardonnay. Every night. If there is no Chardonnay, I won't have anything else. There is never no Chardonnay though. And I drink alone because my husband doesn't drink. At all. Nothing. It works out wonderfully well because on the very rare occasion we go out, I always have a dedicated driver. Win!

Funny aside: We have a really impressive drinks cabinet at home with just about every type of drink you can imagine. Looking at it you would think either of us were big drinkers (we aren't. Except me and the Chardonnay) or that we entertained a lot (we don't). In actual fact the booze in the cabinet is so old that when my almost 18 year old happily discovered the treasure chest of booze, he found out that many of the bottles had actually expired. He offered to help us get rid of it. What a kind chap! I have tried to put a pic of him in front of the booze cabinet at the bottom of this post. Not sure I will get it right as I am working off an ipad app.

I am not particularly proud that I drink so much wine because CALORIES!! but at least I don't gamble/smoke/bite my nails/insert other bad habit here. She says, trying to fool herself that it's not that bad.

One would think that such an experienced drinker would like to go out and have a party now and then, have a few more drinks to let my hair down, but I don't. I only drink in the early evening until my dinner is finished. The last sip of wine is drunk just after the last bite of food. Even if the glass is half full (optimist!), I don't drink any more. I throw the rest of the glass of wine away. Because drinking wine after dinner makes me feel drunk. And I although I like tipsy / buzzy, I don't like drunk.

As I said, Marko doesn't drink. Except when we come to Umngazi. Then he makes up for lost time. He has the best time ever here. Every night after dinner he joins the other guests who like to let their hair down at the bar and they have a HUGE party. He probably has about 20 drinks. Gets back to bungalow wayyyy after midnight. As in closer to morning time than night time. There are a group of husbands here that get together every night in the bar and get up to all sorts of mischief. Climbing on the bar, swinging from the rafters, drawing on each other with permanent markers, having chair races.... I can't believe how silly drunk grown men are. Marko just sits there and laughs. He says his face aches from laughing so much.

I am so glad Marko is having fun. I am hugely anti social (I hate going out at night, love my bed and my house) and Marko doesn't have many guy friends who like to go out for a drink. So he never goes out, which is a pity as even though he is a quiet guy he is quite a sociable chap. This way he gets to let his hair down (in a big way) and I get to have my 2-3 glasses of wine and get into bed by 10. Win win.

I am actually really impressed with his social skills. He has met so many people here and they all seem to like him. I have met only a handful of people. Funny. At home I am the one who has to interact with people all the time and he is the quiet one. Here on holiday the roles are reversed. Very few people know me and everyone knows him. I lounge around on my own or with the kids and don't really interact with anyone. He is always chatting and interacting with everyone. I guess that is what holidays are all about. Taking a break from your usual life.

It's really great to see my husband having such a good time. It's good for him. And I am really happy he has found friends to stay up late with so that I don't have to! Sounds weird to say that you are proud of your husband for staying up late at the bar and interacting with a whole lot of very tipsy people, but I am proud. Part of it is that he gets to have fun and the other part is that other people get to find out what I already know. That if you get to know Marko (and you get past the slightly scary, strict exterior), he is a super fun, funny, kind person.

Here is Marko and some of his new BFFs at the bar yesterday. Before midday. Bottom pic is of my nephew and the booze cabinet